Starting a prinitng business.. what is the best equipment?

I have a smallish high street shop with a floor space of about 300-400 sq ft. I'd like to turn it into a printing business to produce.

Business Card, Leaflets, Flyers, Posters, Letterheads etc.
also possibly
Small sign printing, lettering and Digital Photo printing.

I have the knowledge of grapic design to facilitate that aspect but I must confess I know little about the available equipment on the market. I don't want to to go overkill on quality but I would like to be able to produce good products that serve a variety of business.

e.g. Glossy leaflets for pizza companies (with colours that do not run when wet.)

What equipment do I need in terms of printing and finishing of such products? Does anyone know of some good suppliers?

Well I would start with a printer if you want to make a printing business. Then I would buy a pen. (or pencil)

You could have a look at Heidelberg Equipment http://www.uk.heidelberg.com/www/html/en...

a good quality printer

Today's your lucky day- someone who actually has an answer is leaving you one! ;)

An offset press is essential, of course- probably several. If it was me, I'd get a Komori press. Specifically, a two color and a six-color (probably green and coater for the last two.) Korean stuff is much cheaper than, say, Heidelberg, and the quality has really caught up in recent years.

The smart thing to do would be to go visit some printers, say you want to start a print shop in another state to which you're moving (not true), and ask them how it usually goes with equipment and what they'd do if they could go back and start over again. Then give them plenty of time to tell you. When they stop, ask "How come?"

One of the most essential things you can do is find a good service person for your printing equipment. The earlier you two get teamed up, the better. If you tell me what state you're in I might know someone.

If you're really sharp, you can get very cheap junked-out one color presses and change out the clutches on them (you can run those things at 300% capacity!) and just burn through them like a prepaid cell phone. If you're making money on it (and pizza shops are great for one-color work) then it's solid, plus you can even salvage a part or two from time to time.

It's also true that you'll need a paper cutter (obviously) and other necessities of the trade like a business card slitter, but I'd have to disagree that you need a digital press. They're great, they can do AMAZING things (especially Oc茅 machines, oh my gosh), and a lot of business is going to them, but I know SO many printers who just run offsets in their shop and are making gobs of money hand over fist. One guy and his wife have a 200 sq. ft. shop and they pass four million sheets a month.

the first thing u need to do is a thorough physibility study; visit as many printing press as posible and try to know more about the job.

secondly i think you need a good desktop publishing and graphic desing machinery ie personal computer (pc), printers and a good offset printing machines. you'll also need a guiloting machine to assist you in triming your finnished job, you require a plate film shooting camera and a studio for your originations and plate making. you wil also require a perforator and a creasing machine especially for greating cards etc.

NB; most of these equipments are available in second hand or used forms and these can reduce your initial cost.

good luck

The growth market you need to focus on for strong margin is short-run digital output. I work for Xerox, who pretty much own this sector with offerings running from entry level up to products like i-Gen. Plenty of options in mid-range for printing business cards/ flyers etc. I can point you in the direction of the right Xerox Partner to talk to you. They can also offer finance for new-start businesses and often supply the equipment on a pay-per-use contract. Feel free to call me Glenn 07979 804755. Happy to help.

depends what type of printers - I had a screen printing business and did quite well until my divorce but now a days everything is done with computers, have you worked out your income and expenditure before you do anything else, like the cost of the paper and card and is there a big demand for it in your area.